Adoration
by kosmotis
Summary: One night, Bruce reflects on Richard's appearance in his life, and all the good that has come because of it.


**Disclaimer: **There are an infinite number of parallel universes out there that exist for each and every possibility that has ever occurred. This means that out there somewhere, it is entirely possible that there is a universe where I own Young Justice. Unfortunately, it isn't this universe, so I must pay homage to Greg Weisman and Brandon Vietti for creating the wonderful series in this particular universe.

Inspired by somebody's profile pic.

**Warning**: Extreme amounts of fluff ahead. No slash, purely platonic father/son love. You have been warned.

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><p>Batman and Robin had just finished their patrol for the night (or early morning, if you wanted to be specific). It hadn't been that difficult, and no major villains had attacked anybody (for which Batman was thankful. Robin may have been his partner for almost six months now, but he still wasn't comfortable letting the child go up against someone like the Joker or Clayface). Normally, Bruce would have brought Dick back to the manor and the two would retire to the amazingly comfortable beds, but he had a quick meeting up in the Watchtower.<p>

_Recognized: Batman, 02. Robin, B 01._

Dick sleepily rubbed his eyes and trudged down the hallway to Batman's room, planning to sleep there until the meeting was over. Bruce's eyes followed him for a moment, then he himself headed towards the meeting room.

"Ah, Batman, we're just waiting on Green Arrow now." Superman sent his college a genial smile which was returned with the typical grunt and swish of a black cape as Batman took his seat at the table. The archer arrived a moment later, and soon the meeting commenced. It was just a standard meeting, one they had every month to go over the basic crime rates and general going-ons of villains. At the moment, no major crimes/plots of world domination/attacks/etc. were occurring, but it was only a matter of time before some super villain decided he or she wanted to use their "fearsome powers" to destroy the Justice League and take over the world. Batman had known pretty much all of it already (the title "World's Greatest Detective" wasn't just given out willy-nilly like cars at an "Oprah's Favorite Things" show), and as such felt the meeting was rather pointless for him to attend. He surreptitiously checked the time. While it was summertime and as such Robin didn't have school tomorrow, Alfred would still kill him if the boy wasn't home and in bed by the time the sun came up. People could say all they wanted about how Batman was the most intimidating superhero they had ever seen, but that was only because they'd never seen one of Alfred's disapproving stares. Even if you weren't on the receiving end of one, you still felt immensely guilty.

The meeting didn't finish up nearly as fast as Batman had hoped it would, but it eventually came to a close at around three. Standing up, he silently _swooshed_ out of the door without a word in parting to his fellow heroes. Entering his quarters as quietly as possible, he was unsurprised to find Robin curled up in a tiny ball upon his rarely used bed. His teddy bear, a gift from J'onn to comfort him if the boy ever slept in the Watchtower, was snuggled in the tight embrace of the young boy's arms. Dark boots normally used to kick bad guys in the face quietly trod across the carpeted floor, the only noise in the room being Robin's soft breathing and the gentle _swish-swish_ of Batman's cape. The Caped Crusader carefully seated himself on the edge of the bed, not wanting to startle the boy too much. He reached out and touched the child's arm, softly trying to shake him awake.

He was practicing his parenting skills, as Alfred had told him that it was Bruce's job to raise the child properly, not his. It wasn't easy; often Bruce forgot that the young boy he had employed as his partner wasn't as weathered or as tough as his other colleagues…but he was slowly getting better.

"Robin, it's time to head back now, the meeting's done." The boy grunted softly in his sleep, shifting his head a bit against the pillow, but didn't wake up. Batman's lips tightened. "Robin. Wake up." This time Robin didn't even grant him a response, and merely stayed asleep. A puff of air escaped the Dark Knight's lips as he leaned over and slowly moved the Boy Wonder from the bed to his lap. When the protégé _still_ didn't stir, his mentor knew it was a lost cause and resigned himself to carrying the child to the zeta beam.

For a moment, the man glanced down at the boy, taking in his appearance. Soft brown locks, so dark they appeared black, hung in the child's face, partially obscuring the domino mask. Though Robin was very well built for a child of his age, no amount of exercise could completely erase the baby fat he still had in his cheeks. That was something that only age and puberty could properly remove, and for some reason Batman found himself saddened by the idea. Small fingers toughened with calluses twitched in his sleep, and judging by the pattern of movement, the boy was dreaming of codes instead of his parents' deaths for once.

He'd only had Richard as a part of his life for around a year and half now, but the boy had definitely wormed his way into Bruce's heart. He was absolutely brilliant, and most of it wasn't even because of him. Judging by his records, Dick had excelled in every school that he'd attended when the circus rolled into town, and he'd been a black belt by the time he was eight. He was learning codes and hacking almost faster than Bruce could teach him, and the man wouldn't be surprised if the child surpassed him in that particular area within a few years. Strong, intelligent, eager, and best of all – he desired _justice_ rather than _vengeance_.

Sometimes, Bruce wondered how he was lucky enough to end up with a kid like Dick.

Alfred called Richard a godsend. Though he'd never said it aloud, it was rather obvious that the butler thought that the circus acrobat had saved Bruce from a very dark path. He supposed it made sense. As the years had passed, he'd grown more and more obsessed with fighting crime until it had gotten to the point that he was mostly Batman with just a thin mask of Bruce Wayne as his disguise. Now, however, with Richard in his life…he had a purpose other than fighting crime. Kids required so much work, but he was starting to realize that the effort was worth it in the end. He found that one of Dick's smiles when he saw that his new father had returned from the office lit up his world and gave him a much better sense of happiness better than putting a killer behind bars ever could. If the young Boy Wonder had the flu and Batman had to choose between watching over the boy and going on patrol…well, Alfred practically had to chase him out of the cave and into the city with one of his own weapons.

Bruce was slowly realizing that he would literally put his life down if it meant protecting Richard from harm. He'd rather reveal his secret identity in front of Lois Lane than let the Joker lay a single finger on the boy; and the way the villains had no problem in hurting Robin as much as they tried to hurt Batman made his blood boil even more than the horrendous and unspeakable crimes they did could.

And you know what? He was perfectly fine with that.

Bruce was brought back to the present by Richard's tiny, childish hand grasping Bruce's own large, gloved thumb in much the same as an infant does to its mother's pinky. His jaw cracked open slightly as a short stream of gibberish escaped his mouth, and a smirk spread across Batman's face as he realized his protégé couldn't even keep his mouth shut when he slept. Realizing that it was getting rather late (or early, either one worked) and Alfred would have his hide if he didn't get Richard in bed within the hour, Bruce gently shifted his adopted son into a semi-vertical position with the boy's arms still curled tightly around the stuffed bear, pinning it to his chest. He slowly stood up, quickly making sure he had a firm grip and that Dick hadn't awoken in the process. Once he was sure he was clear, Batman quietly strode across the floor and out of the room. On his way to the zeta beam, Black Canary caught sight of the Dynamic Duo. As her face softened, Batman suppressed feelings of annoyance fighting to appear on his face when he realized she wanted to talk.

"He's so innocent…" She whispered, a hand accustomed to punching/slapping bad guys instead gently stroking Richard's soft hair. Her eyes looked up to meet Batman's, or at least the eyeholes of his cowl. "Did Ollie tell you? We're looking in to adopting this kid he found. Not even a teen yet, but he already has a faster shot than Ollie does." A gentle smile crossed her face as she ran a finger down the Boy Wonder's cheek. "Is it as wonderful as everyone says it is?"

Normally, Bruce would grunt and walk away with a swish of his cape, but he knew what Dinah was asking and how important the answer really was.

"Even better."

_Recognized: Batman, 02. Robin, B 01. _

Bruce looked around; making sure the beam had transported him to the right place. Once he was sure he was in the Batcave, he stepped forward and tried to walk as quietly towards the stairs as possible. No need to alert Alfred to his tardy presence –

"Master Bruce, you're late."

Too late.

The Caped Crusader turned around slowly to face Alfred's disapproving stare, feeling every bit the child caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "The meeting ran on longer than I expected." Judging by Alfred's arched eyebrow, he doubted his gruff "Batman voice" was having any effect on the butler's opinion of the situation.

"Hm. very well. However, the Young Master really must be put to bed as soon as possible. It is far past his bedtime." The Englishman's face softened just a bit as his gaze slipped down to Dick's slumbering face.

Eager to escape Alfred in the hope that his father figure would forget about how much trouble he was in, Bruce quickly stripped both Richard and himself down to their boxers, then dashed upstairs to slip into some warm pajamas.

"Mmm…" Bruce looked over to see Dick's blue eyes, cloudy from sleep, cracked open to watch him as he pulled his shirt on.

"Yes, Dick?" The older man sat down on the edge of his bed, placing a large hand on Dick's Superman pajamas-clothed back. Blue eyes blinked slowly as the younger half of the Dynamic Duo adjusted his gaze to meet his adoptive father's own.

"You're awesome," he said, then his eyes shut and was soon fast asleep again. A rare twitch of the lips that could be classified as a smile appeared on Bruce's face as he looked down at his protégé.

No, not his protégé. His _son_.

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><p><strong>AN:** Uh…hi? Yeah, sorry about this. Y'see, I often start writing little stories, but I usually don't finish them. This was a rare case where I did…

As you can see, I have set my sights on the _Young Justice_ fandom, and have utterly decimated it with my fluff. I can't help it though, I just freaking love the whole Bruce/Richard dynamic. I have a lot of other _Young Justice_ stories pending/in progress sitting in my laptop, but the publication of those depends on how much longer my laptop feels like living (We've been having this love-hate relationship lately, and sometimes it feels like working while most of the time it doesn't) and how much inspiration I can crank into my stories.

Sorry to people who read my other stories, though. I've rather lost interest in Naruto altogether, and I don't see anything being updated any time soon.


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